Chapter Two:
A quiet pop was all that signaled Harry and Hailey's arrival on the front porch of the Potters. Harry decided that it would be a little more polite than apparating directly into their sitting room. He set Hailey down and hesitated; why was he even here? Looking down, he noticed the young brunette heaving next to him from the strain of the apparation. Illuminated by the light on the porch, Harry could tell just how bad she looked. He needed help. Harry knew that he wasn't really father material, or maybe she wouldn't have died.
"Sir, what was that?" Hailey asked with a pale face.
"We teleported," Harry answered, snapping out of his thoughts, and smiling at the mixture of wonder and the slight grimace on her face, "let's get you inside and cleaned up." He put his hand on the small of her back and grit his teeth when he felt her muscles tense. Guiding her to the door, Harry reached out to grab the handle but stopped himself. Maybe he should knock? Again, it would be more polite. It wasn't like this was his house.
Harry knocked thrice and waited impatiently.
The door opened to show Lily Potter standing in the doorway. "Hello Harry." Harry could tell how nervous she was by the slight trembling of her hands every time she looked at him. She looked down at Hailey and furrowed her brows, "Who's this?" Harry felt a hand grab his robes as Hailey hid behind him. Lily's eyes rose to meet his, a questioning expression on her face.
Harry put his hand on the child's shoulder, moving her around to stand in front of him. "This is Hailey, she's shy." He said simply.
"I see..." The redhead kneeled to Hailey's eye level, "Would you like to come in?" Hailey turned and looked up at Harry, who just nodded at her.
Looking back at Lily, Hailey just nodded. Harry looked into his faux mother's eyes as she stood up, the confusion in her expression was clear as day. "Let's get you inside."
"Okay…" Hailey practically whispered.
Harry's 'mother' stepped to the side, allowing them both entry into the home. As soon as he stepped across the threshold, he could hear frantic talking coming from the sitting room. Lily put her hand lightly on Harry's shoulder, causing her to flinch as a sharp pain traveled through her fingers, up her arm, and stopping just before her heart. Her hand quickly moved. "Please, don't touch me." Harry said, not even looking at her, he hated being touched by strangers.
"I-I'm sorry." Lily said, a look of trepidation on her face. Her eyes moved from him to the sitting room, then back to him again. "Follow me, please." She said, making her way toward the noisy room. Hailey looked up at Harry, before hiding herself behind him again. He sighed and began to make his way towards his "family", with the young girl in tow.
Approaching the room, he began to hear the conversation that was happening. "—gone. The whole house." Harry's brows rose, he knew this voice. Walking into the room, it quickly became silent. All eyes in the room were on Hailey and him. James sat on the couch, his daughter right beside him. Next to the fireplace was a familiar Shacklebolt, Tonks standing right beside him. Harry's gaze was fixed to the man sitting on the recliner directly in front of the couch.
Sirius Black sat staring at him with his mouth slightly open. Sirius's gaze fell upon the girl at Harry's side. He stood up and pointed, "That's her!" Hailey whimpered, her grip tightening on Harry's robes.
Harry's eyes narrowed as he spoke, "I'd appreciate it if you would keep your voice down. She doesn't like being yelled at." Before his accident, he wouldn't dream of speaking to his godfather like that. Sirius looked taken aback.
"You kidnapped her?" Sirius said incredulously, "Where are her parents?"
Harry paused, considering how to word his response.
"Mister Harry sent them and the house away, with magic." Hailey's voice cut through the tension like butter. She hid back behind Harry when she noticed that she had gathered the attention of the room.
Good job Hailey.
Sirius looked back to Harry, "What does she mean you sent them away?" Harry ignored him, looking over to Lily then to the dirty child pointedly.
"Rose," Said girl's eyes immediately snapped to her mother's, "would you please help Hailey freshen up?" Her eyebrows rose, her gaze moved to the youngest in the room. Her eyes narrowed after noticing the dirt and matted hair on the young girl.
"Hailey," Harry said, getting her attention, "will you please follow Rose. She's going to show you where you can get clean. I'll be right down here."
Hailey's eyes moved to the girl and then back to him, nodding. Harry gave her a small smile as she let go and began to follow Rose. The teenager snuck a glance at him before taking the small girl's hand, disappearing up the stairs.
The moment of silence was broken by Sirius's whine, "Could someone maybe tell me what the bloody hell is going on?"
"This way Hailey." Rose held the hand of the dirty child the mysterious 'Harry' brought, leading her towards the washroom. The girl was disgusting; she was covered in dirt and her hair looked like it hadn't been washed in weeks.
Wherever this child came from, she was obviously not treated well. Finally getting to their destination, she tried to get a conversation going while filling the tub to break the slightly awkward atmosphere. "How do you know Harry, Hailey?"
Stepping into the warm bath Hailey answered, "Umm, he came to my house tonight and brought me here after sending my parents and the house away." Hailey looked nervous undressing and getting into the tub, but the nerves soon melted away as she sunk her body fully into the hot water.
"He just showed up and kidnapped you after killing your parents?" Rose was stunned. He must have known her from before somehow, but after looking at the bruised body of the child – she had mistaken the bruises for dirt – she couldn't blame him for doing it, nor her for seeming not to care.
Hailey frowned, "He said he sent them away."
"Yeah, to hell." Rose mumbled, "Anyway, let's get you clean." She finished, grabbing the shampoo, and handing it to her.
"Thank you." Hailey said quietly.
Rose chucked, "You're welcome and call me Rosie, all my friends do."
Hailey smiled and nodded, the joy she felt written all over her face. Rose smiled back, glad that she felt safe with her.
How had this girl suffered? Rose couldn't help but ask herself. And the boy, he was so familiar. He looked like her father, but had her mother's eyes.
Or rather eye.
Harry had one familiar green eye and one crimson that seemed to glow eerily in the dark. Was he born that way or did something happen?
Rose looked down at the young girl in the tub and frowned. Several small scars littered her back, some noticeable and others not so much. Except for one angry red scar that ran from her right shoulder blade down to her left hip. She reached out and lightly brushed her finger over it causing the small girl to flinch.
"I'm sorry." Rose apologized quickly, bringing her hand back.
"It's okay." Hailey said before continuing her washing. "I burned dinner." She said suddenly, answering Rose's unasked question.
A burning anger rose in her stomach, "Such horrible people." Rose spat. "What are you going to do now?"
"I don't know. Whatever Mister Harry wants to I guess." Hailey answered with no hesitation, sparking a little bit of worry from the older girl.
"Are you sure? I bet Mum would let you stay here." Rose paused, "Harry is kinda scary, are you sure you want to go with him?"
Hailey shot her head to the side, flinging water everywhere, and meeting her eyes with an intense stare. Rose couldn't help but lean back slightly. "Mister Harry isn't scary. He—" she hesitated.
That caught Rose's attention, "He what?" She asked, leaning forward a little in anticipation.
She could see Hailey battling with herself before looking towards the closed door and then back at her. "I'll tell you if you keep it secret." She whispered.
Rose's curiosity peaked, "Okay, I promise." She said while nodding quickly.
Rose loved secrets.
Hailey looked around suspiciously, raising her excitement even more. What huge secret did he have? Rose couldn't wait to find out.
"Mister Harry knows magic."
The bombshell.
The older girl leaned back defeated, "That's the secret?" Her voice came out unimpressed. "I know magic too."
The brunette's eyes widened, "Really?! Can you teleport too?!" The words coming out rapidly.
"Uh, no I can't apparate yet."
"Oh." Hailey said unimpressed, getting out of the tub and grabbing a towel. That response got on Rose's nerves for some reason.
"I'll get you some clothes and we can go back downstairs." Rose said while getting to her feet.
"Okay. Thank you." The girl said with a beaming smile on her face.
Rose closed her eyes as she turned around to walk away.
So cute.
Harry looked around the room silently, the amount of dead people here unnerved him slightly. "Hello Sirius."
"Uh, hello?"
"Harry," Lily spoke up, voice laced with concern, "who is that?" Harry saw Lily's eyes looking towards the stairs.
Sirius was the first to speak up, "That's the little Muggleborn that was taken from the house!"
"What happened to her?" James had a sad expression on his face, as if he already knew the answer.
"It seems she was being abused." Harry said, "I did her a favor." Harry looked over at Sirius, "How did you know she was magical?"
"Because she was sent a Hogwarts letter." That caught Harry's attention: she was only ten, why was she sent a Hogwarts letter?
"Why do I need to answer any of your questions? You're coming with me to the Ministry." Sirius stood and took a few steps before stopping suddenly.
"I refuse." Harry said as he quickly began preparing his magic in the room, causing everyone in the room to feel like some intense pressure was slowly squeezing on their hearts. Harry was ready to unleash and blow the entire neighborhood to hell if need be.
"Harry, please stop!" Lily's voice broke through to him, "No one is taking you anywhere." She shot an icy glare towards Sirius and the rest of the Aurors. Everyone stood down, but the tension in the air was still noticeable.
Tonks took a step forward, "What do you mean that you sent her parents away? You killed them?"
"Yes."
Harry's blunt answer seemed to snap people out of their thoughts. "Can I ask how? There were no bodies. Did you burn them?"
Harry shook his head, "They've scattered with the wind."
'Well, one of them. There's no telling where the other's pieces have ended up.' Harry thought to himself.
Lily paled thinking about the Veil. The others just looked sick.
"What are we going to do about this?" Sirius asked, "and why does he look like your twin James?"
James looked at Sirius like he was an idiot, "How should I know? I, in fact, am probably the most confused person here. This is the first time I've seen this man." James looked over at Lily trying to gauge her mood. He then pointed to her and look at Sirius, "If Lily isn't freaking out, there probably isn't a reason to." James then looked at Harry, "Also, he hasn't really done anything threatening or harmful to us. He actually looks as confused about this situation as I am."
James had hit the nail directly on the head.
Harry was very confused.
"Anyway!" Sirius yelled, trying to take back control of the conversation, "what are we going to do about this fiasco?"
James just waived his hand dismissively, "That sounds like your problem."
Sirius looked taken aback by James's reply, but then immediately turned to Kingsley.
Kingsley wasn't even looking at him.
Sirius started to turn to Tonks.
"I'm busy." He couldn't even fully look before he was firmly rejected.
Sirius sighed with a bitter look on his face. "Gas explosion or something, I don't know yet."
Harry had to admit that he felt quite awkward standing there, all eyes on him, "I… apologize for the issue I've caused, but Hailey will stay with me."
"The girl," Shacklebolt's deep voice carried through the silence, "will need to come with us. You cannot just abduct—" His voice cut out quickly, feeling the rising tension in the room.
Harry stood still, wand in hand. The air in the room grew cold, a light mist escaping the lips of the few others in the room. "Kingsley." The pure fury in Harry's voice caused the very air in the room to be still. "I am not afraid of you or your Ministry. Attempting to take this child from me will have disastrous consequences." Harry took a few steps closer, he was only a few more steps away. "I will make you disappear; I will destroy your Ministry; I will annihilate your country. I don't care."
The fury was building in Harry just thinking about someone trying to take Hailey away. Wand tapping furiously on his right thigh, he struggled to not explode. "If you think you can Kingsley, try and take her."
James's calm voice broke the silence, "Harry, no one is going anywhere." His eyes moved from Harry to Kingsley, "Let's just use Sirius's suggestion and cover it up. Was there anyone to obliviate?"
It was Tonks that answered, her hair turning a light shade of red, "Yeah, the whole neighborhood!" She yelled, throwing her arms up in the air, "Everyone seemed to remember an actual house sitting on the foundation." Tonks did her best to glare at Harry, but he saw the fear in her eyes.
Harry had always liked Tonks. Her chipper attitude usually brought him back from any somber moods he felt, and she was entertaining to be around.
Her brutal death had hit him hard.
Harry realized her point. There were better ways of going about what he had done. James sighed, "Well, it's done. Let's just put this behind us." He looked back to Harry, "But, I think I speak for everyone when I ask, who are you, Harry?"
Harry considered ignoring the question as he would have to explain more than he had intended to, which was nothing at all. He didn't have the faintest clue what was actually going on. He should be dead; he wanted to die.
Starting over? What would be the point? This clearly wasn't the same reality and he had lost most of his ability to feel empathy after ripping out the Horcrux from his own soul. Which wasn't supposed to happen. All it left him was one red eye, a fucked up soul, and broken magic.
Just thinking about going through that war again made him grind his teeth in fury and his magic reacted accordingly.
The lights flickered and a window cracked; wands were again in hands.
"Mr. Harry?" A soothing voice cut through his anger like butter.
His gaze immediately shot to the young girl as his magic instantly reigned itself in, giving every adult there an odd sort of magical whiplash. Her brown hair no longer matted and pale skin no longer covered with dirt and grime, now just with scars and bruises. Rose stood next to her, looking between the people in the room nervously. "Are you okay?" Hailey asked.
Harry holstered his wand and walked over to her, kneeling, "I am now, and just call me Harry." Getting a closer look, he noticed the dirt on her face was a bruise. Harry gently ran his thumb over the bruise on her cheek causing Hailey to flinch. He frowned.
"This is Hailey. A Muggleborn that I rescued." He answered simply while standing, causing the entirety of the room to stare blankly at him. Harry didn't care or even feel the need to explain himself.
"My name is Harry Potter." He continued, staring directly into Lily's eyes. "My parents are James and Lily Potter, but not you it would seem." Harry looked around meeting everyone's eyes, "In fact, you are all dead. Except you," Harry looked at Rose, "you just don't exist."
He ignored the indignant look on her face and continued, "I walked through the Veil to die, but it didn't work, and I got upset. I apologize for destroying your precious Veil." Harry ended, as if that was the issue the entire time.
After a long silence, it was James that broke it, "Harry, wait, what?" - with his eloquent question. Oddly enough though, it was the only question asked. Harry scanned the room to see their reactions.
They were all skeptical.
"That doesn't make any sense." Sirius finally said, "If you go through the Veil, you die."
"Have you ever gone through the Veil, Sirius?" Harry asked with a straight face.
"Well, no…" Sirius responded, trying to counter Harry's logic, but ultimately deciding to pretend he hadn't even said anything.
"Harry," next it was James and Lily to ask their questions, James asked first, "You look so like me that it's hard not to believe you. And your eye, the green one…"
"Looks just like mine." Lilly finished for him. "Harry, when – when did we die?" she finished quietly, looking at James whose eyes were slowly widening. That question caused Harry to raise his eyebrows. Why would she want to know when she died and not how? The reaction from everyone in the room was almost identical to James'. Lily's question had brought an epiphany to everyone listening, except for Harry and Hailey.
"Halloween, 1981. You seem to know something of significance about the date?" Harry asked but didn't really ask. He knew they knew something, but he didn't really care. This place had nothing to do with him, he was just planning on taking Hailey and moving to France, maybe. Or perhaps New Zealand? Harry had heard that it was a beautiful place, perfect for staying away from people. He looked down at Hailey, who was looking at Rose with a look of longing that he couldn't really understand, who was looking at him with an undecipherable look. Thinking about it though, Harry did have a question, "James," Harry looked at the man that was conversing with his wife, taking his attention, "why aren't you and Lilly dead?"
Harry had a problem with reading the room and empathizing with others, he knew this and didn't care. No one else knew this, which was probably why the room immediately went silent. "W-what the hell kind of question is that?" Rose couldn't stop herself from asking, causing her mother to shush her, but Rose ignored her, "why would you ask that? Just because they are dead wherever you're from doesn't mean they will be here too!" she yelled at him with tears building up in her eyes. Harry had a sneaking suspicion that something had happened to them in the past. "We don't even know if he's telling the truth! Maybe he's really with You-Know-Who!" Rose then yelled, looking around at everyone else. Her next words got caught in her throat after seeing the expressions of everyone else. It was almost as if he had won them over with just that question.
Next, it was Kingsley who spoke with much less hostility, "And you survived?" Harry couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed answering such inane questions.
"Obviously." Harry deadpanned, but then lifted his bangs to show off his famous scar, which had paled slightly. "But he left me with this." Their reaction told him exactly what he had expected, they had a prophecy here and it was probably like his. This was bad.
Harry didn't know why, but he had a feeling that things were going to get more complicated soon. "Harry," He looked at Lily, who was crying. "I'm sorry your parents couldn't be there for you. But how did he find them? Dumbledore put us under the Fidelus. Did he not do that for you?" she asked, shushing Roses quiet inquiries. "Even after Rosie was born, we stayed at Hogwarts for almost two years until we moved back here."
"No." Harry stated blandly, "You both lived and died in Godric's Hollow." He looked at Lily to see her staring at the ground in contemplation, then her eyes widened even more before she let out a soft sob, that was also an eerie chuckle, "I stayed with Petunia after that until I couldn't." Lily nodded her head in silence, while James rubbed the bridge of his nose also fighting back tears.
Rose just looked confused.
Finally getting tired of the awkward silence Sirius stood up and clapped once. "Alright, I'm confused. If Dumbledore wasn't their secret keeper, why would I give their secret away?" Sirius could believe most of this crap, because he has seen some of the things Harry's done in his short time here with his own eyes. But him betraying his best friend was not something that would happen, because if the secret keeper wasn't Dumbledore, it had to be him.
"Peter Pettigrew was their secret keeper."
Everyone in the room froze, even Rose.
Oh, interesting…
"Why was that rat bastard their Secret Keeper?!" Sirius blew his lid. There seemed to be some kind of vendetta against Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew here. Harry wondered what had happened here to cause this kind of reaction. "Wait," Sirius calmed himself, "if he was their Secret Keeper, does that mean he was their best friend?" He then looked at Harry with wide eyes and pathetically asked, "Where was I?"
"Azkaban."
"Tsk," Sirius clicked his tongue, "I hope it was for killing that fucking lunatic." Harry couldn't help but think that almost everything here was different. In fact, he didn't even know what year it was…
"Sirius, calm down." James said. He and Lily had gotten in control of themselves while Harry was speaking to Sirius. "Were you able to finish it, Harry? Did you kill Voldemort?"
The question most people were thinking but too afraid to ask. They felt they didn't have enough information to make that conclusion but seeing how Harry was here and clearly a few years older than Rose, they couldn't help but pray.
Harry hesitated to answer. He had a weird feeling that if he said yes, things would get troublesome for him. If he said no, it would be a lie. Normally he wouldn't care about lying to God himself, but he didn't dare to lie in front of Hailey, even if he knew that she wouldn't know. Harry considered sending Hailey off for a minute but changed his mind and sighed. "Yes, at an immense personal cost." Thankfully no one asked him to elaborate.
"How did the two of you survive?" Harry couldn't help but be curious. He assumed Dumbledore's Fidelus had played quite a large role in that but, if Voldemort never came, did that mean he was still out there? Just thinking about it gave him a headache.
Surely, they wouldn't ask him to kill him again. Right?
It was James that answered, "Well, like we said; Dumbledore hid us."
It was all that really needed to be said. Harry knew that Albus would never give up the secret, so he considered his question answered and decided to move on. "Sirius, you're rich right?" Harry asked with a straight face.
"What?" Sirius looked shocked, "You create so much work for me, and then you want compensation?!"
"I need money to leave this place. I came through the veil with nothing." Harry explained, "I'll pay you back."
"Harry, what do you plan to do with Hailey after you leave?" Lily asked with genuine confusion. Everyone else was also confused.
Of course, Harry's confusion was raising to another level. "What the hell are you talking about? She's obviously going with me." Harry looked at them like they were all idiots. What were they thinking? That he would go through all of this just to leave her here? Harry was dumbfounded. Was everything I said ignored?
James broke the silence, "Hailey has to go to Hogwarts, do you plan on apparating her every day?"
Harry was becoming annoyed, "She doesn't have to go to Hogwarts if I take her away? I'm sure there are other magical schools elsewhere. Maybe even one that isn't near a Dark Lord, that would be great." Harry grabbed Hailey's hand, preparing to escape. "If you won't lend me money, then I'll just go steal some." Harry turned, quickly maneuvering Hailey in front of him to leave from the front door.
"Harry wait!" Lily yelled, "She's bound by Magic through Hogwarts itself after receiving a letter. She has to go."
Harry closed his eyes and cursed. Harry knew Magic well.
Shit.